Troubleshooting Commercial Refrigeration Problems

Keeping product out of the danger zone and ready for preparation on the line is one of the most important tasks facing any commercial kitchen, and your commercial refrigeration units play a critical role.

Maintaining and fixing the refrigeration units in your restaurant can be expensive, which is why it’s all the more important for you to be able to fix common issues that come up quickly without wasting a lot of time waiting for help.

Here’s a list of common commercial refrigeration issues and how to address them:

About Greg McGuire

Greg has blogged about the food service industry for years and has been published in industry magazines, like Independent Restaurateur and industry blogs like Restaurant SmartBrief. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two sons and enjoys reading, live music, and the great outdoors.

17 Responses to Troubleshooting Commercial Refrigeration Problems

This is a great group of articles. As any restaurant owner knows, keeping your refrigeration is crucial. Not only can poorly performing refrigeration ruin product but it can lead to health problems if your establishment inadvertently uses spoiled food.

Having a problem with the temperture in a GE profile artica. The vegetable crisper is freezing the vegetables in the refrigerator, even when the settings in the refer and freezer are both set at “1”. Any ideas to correct, or is this just a product flaw?

Thanks for submitting your question. Unfortunately, our area of expertise on this blog is for commercial refrigeration units. I wouldn’t want to steer you wrong with a residential unit. I would recommend looking up troubleshooting tips on GE’s site.

Check the door gaskets first – if they are worn or cracked then you may be getting temperature fluctuations due to leakage. If the gaskets are good then I would replace the thermostat. See this Back Burner article for more information on replacing thermostats: http://blog.etundra.com/commercial-refrigeration-thermostats/

Hello, I have a commercial refrigerator cant be any older then 5 years and in good shape. The problem I am having is I set the digital temperature to 40degrees as its always been set and the temp. just keeps dropping to freezing levels. it dropped to 19 degrees. it happened once about 6months ago then once about 2 months ago. i unplugged it shook a couple wires around and everything was fine. but now it does it all the time, acting like a freezer now. any suggestions. i am formiliar with all the basic parts as i was in the HVAC field for a I dont have the unit info with me if needed let me know.

It sounds like there’s a thermostat/temp control issue. It’s like the cooking end, where you have a runaway thermostat that does not cycle off and keeps heating. And with refrigerators, because it isn’t cycling off, it just keeps cooling. It also will prevent you from being able to defrost. We’d recommend replacing your thermostat.

When was the last time the condenser coils were cleaned? If there’s dust & dirt build-up it will effect how the unit cools. Try cleaning the condenser coils, and see if that helps. If not, it’s likely the thermostat.

I have a 40 year old reachin disply freezer that I had worked on in one of our buildings. all the wiring for three of the 6 evaperator fans burndt up, I replaced the wiring and also the defrost timer. but now they are saying they think the fans are turning the wrong direction, Is this possible ? they are 230v single phase. The condensing unit is 3 phase, I havent been back out there but he told me the fans are pulling air in from the fan shroud than back out the evaperator. I know that the walkin freezers & coolers all pull air from the back of evaperator & out the fan shroud. our display casses different? I have to run out there tomorrow and look at it. Any suggestions?

Thanks for getting these articles together. Like you said, it is important to be able to fix common issues quickly. I worked in a garde manger for a while, and it was difficult to continue to work efficiently when the refrigerator was acting up. My boss would have been less stressed out if we’d had this information. These articles also help you to recognize what kinds of problems you need a professional to come fix.